Halloween International Film Festival 2020 Award Winners Announced

The 5th Annual HALLOWEEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL EDITION streamed online Oct. 1-3, 2020, featuring more than 30 Official Selections from around the world, presented by Halloween Daily News.

This year’s award winners have been announced, with the horror comedy Mass Hysteria, directed by Jeff Ryan and Arielle Cimino, taking home Best Feature Film honors and the awesome Bella and the Slasher, from director Justin H. Reich and featuring an amazing debut from lead actor Cherokee Rose Castro, winning Best Short Film.

The horror feature film They Live Inside Us, written and directed by Michael Balif, won Best Halloween Film; while the social media commentary Clout, written and directed by and starring Ariel Hansen and filmed in Canada, won Best International Film; and the gory short Backward Creep, directed by  Christopher G. Moore and shot in Greensboro, NC, won Best North Carolina Film.

For the first time, the 2020 acting awards are non-gender-specific, honoring the best performance and supporting performance of the year, rather than best “actor” and “actress,” with genre icon Caroline Williams winning Best Actor for her amazing work in the timely and twisted Ten Minutes to Midnight, and Tuesday Knight winning Best Supporting Actor for her outstanding work in the 1980s throwback slasher The Bloody Man.

Based on a Creepypasta story, the terrifying Box Fort, from director Tyler Czajkowski, won Scariest Film; and first time director Michael Squid won Breakthrough Filmmaker for his short The Chrysalis.

Mass Hysteria and They Live Inside Us are both available now on VOD.

HIFF 2020 AWARD WINNERS

Best Feature Film: MASS HYSTERIA (dir. Jeff Ryan and Arielle Cimino)

Best Short Film: BELLA AND THE SLASHER (dir. Justin H. Reich)

Best Actor: CAROLINE WILLIAMS (Ten Minutes to Midnight; dir. Erik Bloomquist)

Best Supporting Actor: TUESDAY KNIGHT (The Bloody Man; dir. Daniel Benedict)

Best Halloween Film: THEY LIVE INSIDE US (dir. Michael Ballif)

Best International Film: CLOUT (dir. Ariel Hansen)

Best North Carolina Film: BACKWARD CREEP (dir. Christopher G. Moore)

Scariest Film: BOX FORT (dir. Tyler Czajkowski)

Breakthrough Filmmaker: MICHAEL SQUID (The Chrysalis)

Founded in 2016, the Halloween International Film Festival is a Gold-ranked festival on the world’s top film festival submission platform, FilmFreeway.

Previous Official Selections include The Barn (2016 Best Halloween Film and Best Feature Film Award Winner), 3 Dead Trick or Treaters, 10/31, The Haunt (2017 Best Halloween Film Award Winner), Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2018 Best Halloween Film Award Winner), and Epic Home Haunts (2019 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Winner).

Special invitational Showcase Selections from previous years include Honeyspider, The Houses October Built 2, Candy Corn, and the world premieres of 10/31 Part II and Sharp Candy.

**NEW: Get your official HIFF Virtual Edition 2020 t-shirt now for just $24.99! Click here! (Available in black, blue, or orange.)**

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